Since opening Eve Belle Care Home, part of the Sanders Senior Living Group, opened four years ago, the home has been incredibly proud of their fantastic intergenerational and dementia-friendly projects. Eve Belle share a particularly special bond with North Crescent Primary School, among several other local schools.
Every single Monday afternoon, Eve Belle welcome these “little friends” into their home. These dedicated visits focus on the children reading books to residents. In return, the school frequently invites residents to attend their school assemblies. Remarkably, the children who first visited four years ago have now graduated and left North Crescent Primary, yet they still come back to visit residents.
To kick off the first day of Care Home Open Week, Caroline Mileham, Lifestyle Coordinator at Eve Belle, and Kieun Kwon, Associate Director of Dementia & Wellbeing, wanted to organize something truly meaningful. Kieun, who is a Dementia Ambassador for the Alzheimer’s Society, has been running courses to build dementia-friendly communities for the past 20 years.
Together, they hosted three incredible Dementia Friends sessions for North Crescent Primary School:
- Session 1: For Year 3 and Year 4 students.
- Session 2: For Year 5 and Year 6 students
- Session 3: An in-depth session for the school teachers and staff.
- This afternoon, the youngest children still visited the care home, bringing books of their choice to read to our residents.
How the Dementia Friends Sessions Work
Designed by the Alzheimer’s Society, the sessions began with a simple question: “Have you ever heard of dementia?” This opens up a wonderful conversation with the children.
To explain how dementia affects the brain, the children mapped out everything a healthy brain does during a typical morning, such as brushing teeth, getting dressed, packing school bags, and eating breakfast. All of these ideas were written on Post-it notes and placed next to a diagram of the brain.
The 5 Key Messages
Five children came to the front of the room to hold up the Alzheimer’s Society’s five key statements, which led to a meaningful brainstorming session:
- Dementia is not a natural part of aging.
- It is caused by diseases of the brain.
- It is not just about losing your memory; it can affect thinking, communicating, and doing everyday tasks.
- It is possible to live well with dementia.
- There is more to a person than the dementia.
Following this, the children turned their thoughts into action pledges. They promised to help, read to, and remind older people of important things, while realizing that they, too, can learn from our residents.
Hands-On Learning: The Bookcase and Wool Analogies
To deepen their understanding, the children learned about the “Bookcase Analogy,” which separates factual memory from emotional memory. They learned that while facts might be forgotten, a person’s emotional feelings are not affected.
The highlight of the session was a hands-on activity using wool. A group of children held interlocking strands of wool to represent a healthy network of brain cells. Caroline and Kieun then demonstrated the effects of dementia by cutting the strands of wool until a visible gap appeared in the network. This powerful visual perfectly explained to the children how dementia physically affects the brain.
Going Deeper with the Teachers
The final session of the day was tailored specifically for the teachers. This advanced session focused on:
- Improving communication skills through validation techniques.
- Watching an educational Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Friends video clip.
- Participating in the “Star Exercise,” which gives participants a profound, firsthand understanding of the daily struggles faced by those living with dementia.
A Proud, Dementia-Friendly Community
By the end of the day, every student, teacher, and participating resident received an official Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Friends badge. It was an incredibly rewarding day of shared experiences, and everyone left proudly wearing their badges, committed to making the community a kinder, more understanding place.
